Career: During the early 1990s, McConaughey combined his studies with appearances in adverts, before winning an eye-catching part in the cult movie Dazed and Confused. He made an even bigger splash in 1996, when he won the starring role in the John Grisham adaptation A Time to Kill, which was a major hit worldwide. He's been a popular Hollywood leading man ever since, and his movie credits include Amistad, EDtv, How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, Sahara, Failure to Launch, Tropic Thunder, and Ghosts of Girlfriends Past. In more recent years McConaughey has proved his versatility with roles in more challenging movies, Magic Mike, Bernie, The Dallas Buyers Club, for which he won an Oscar, and Interstellar. He also starred in the first season of acclaimed TV series True Detective.

Career: Bullock moved to New York and studied at the Neighborhood Playhouse. Student films were followed by the Off-Broadway play No Time Flat. She went to Hollywood to appear in TV movie Bionic Showdown in 1989, and thought her big break had come when she landed the lead in a small-screen version of hit movie Working Girl. Sadly, the series flopped. Things began looking up in 1993 when she landed a role in Demolition Man; a year later she was a massive star thanks to Speed. Hits since include While You Were Sleeping, Miss Congeniality (and its sequel), Crash, Premonition and The Proposal. She won an Oscar for her performance in The Blind Side. Her recent credits include The Heat and Gravity.

Career: Jackson's first film was Together for Days in 1972. He later spent two years as a stand-in on The Cosby Show, before starring in the original Broadway production of August Wilson's The Piano Lesson. A series of walk-on parts in films and on TV followed. Spike Lee cast him as the crack-addicted Gator in Jungle Fever, which gained him international acclaim. His most notable films have included Jurassic Park, Pulp Fiction (for which he was Oscar-nominated), Star Wars: Episodes One, Two and Three, Shaft, The 51st State, Unbreakable, Changing Lanes, Black Snake Moan, Django Unchained, Thor, The Avengers and many more. He is regarded as one of the most bankable assets in the movie business and always has a number of films in the pipeline.

Career: Spacey performed stand-up comedy before Kilmer encouraged him to study acting at the Juilliard School. He dropped out two years later, but soon made his Broadway debut in Henry V. He understudied Harvey Keitel in a production of Hurlyburly for director Mike Nichols. The latter then gave him roles in the movies Heartburn and Working Girl. More theatre work followed, until in 1992 the film Glengarry Glen Ross made him an actor to watch. He's won Oscars for The Usual Suspects and American Beauty. Other acclaimed projects include Se7en and LA Confidential. Spacey also starred in Bobby Darin biopic Beyond the Sea, Superman Returns and The Men Who Stare at Goats. He has been the artistic director of London's Old Vic theatre since 2004.

Career: Sutherland appeared in several British TV dramas before making his film debut in 1964's Crypt of Horror. He named his eldest son after its director, Warren Kiefer. More small-screen and low-budget movie projects followed until 1967's The Dirty Dozen. That led to bigger roles in acclaimed films, including 1970's MASH, which made him a star. Impressive yet occasionally offbeat performances followed in films such as Kelly's Heroes, Klute, Don't Look Now, The Eagle Has Landed, Animal House, Ordinary People and JFK. More recently he's featured in Dirty Sexy Money, Astro Boy (as the voice of President Stone), The Hunger Games and The Pillars of the Earth.

Career: He made his film debut alongside his father in the 1983 movie Max Dugan Returns, then took the lead in The Bay Boy. Although it wasn't a hit, the movie was well received, and led to bigger roles, including Stand By Me, The Lost Boys, and the Young Guns films. The 1990s weren't as successful, although highlights were A Few Good Men and A Time to Kill. He also directed the movies Last Light, Truth or Consequences, NM, and Woman Wanted, before starring in and producing the hugely successful 24, for which he won Golden Globe and Emmy awards. He's also appeared in the movies Phone Booth, Taking Lives, The Sentinel, Mirrors, and the TV series Touch.

Career: Fricker initially wanted to become a journalist, but ventured into acting while working for The Irish Times. She gained experience in Irish theatre and with the National Theatre, the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Court Theatre Company before gaining wider public attention for her role as Megan Roach in BBC series Casualty. She received huge acclaim for her Oscar-winning supporting performance as the determined mother of a son afflicted with cerebral palsy in My Left Foot, then headed to Hollywood where she appeared in such varied fare as Home Alone 2 and So I Married an Axe Murderer, as well as more serious roles in Veronica Guerin and Stone of Destiny. She made occasional return appearances on Casualty until August 2010, when her character was killed off.

Career: Cooper plied his trade on the stage before making his film debut in box-office flop Matewan (1987). He had success on the small screen in the miniseries Lonesome Dove and Return to Lonesome Dove but he is better known for his supporting roles in a number of notable Hollywood films. He has appeared in The Horse Whisperer (1998), American Beauty (1999), The Patriot (2000), The Bourne Identity (2002), Adaptation (2002), Seabiscuit (2003), The Bourne Supremacy (2004), Capote (2005), The Town (2010), August: Osage County (2013) and The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014).

Career: After making his mark on the London stage, McGoohan appeared in his first film, The Dam Busters, in 1954. He later gained contracts with the Rank Organisation and Walt Disney, but it was the TV play The Greatest Man in the World that led to him being cast in spy series Danger Man in 1960. Its huge success made him Britain's highest-paid TV actor. McGoohan created surreal cult hit The Prisoner in 1967 before moving to the US. Afterwards his output was sporadic, but he appeared in, directed and written episodes of Columbo, had his own series called Rafferty, and starred in the films Ice Station Zebra, Escape from Alcatraz, Silver Streak and Braveheart. McGoohan died on January 13, 2009, in Santa Monica, California, following a brief illness.